Travel can be an expensive affair. The good news though is that you can almost always find economy deals through a simple online search. Currently, there are thousands of websites that feature travel deals related to air transportation, airport transfers, and related travel services. It can be hectic trying to sieve through all these websites so that you find that incredible deal that you’re looking for. This article highlights a series of the best websites, which are all free to use.

Kayak.com – this is a top travel deals site that harbors hundreds of online sources for cheap fare. Kayak.com is especially great if you’re flexible on time and destination. Try to search for dates that are up to 3 days before and after your ideal travel dates, or on any weekends in the next year. The site’s Explore tool makes it easy for you to scan a world map for all destinations you can reach within a specific price range. You’re also able to enter your preferred vacation activities, flight time, and weather.

AirfareWatchdog – if you’re ready to take off the minute a deal is available, this is a great website resource. This site operates in that actual people are lurking major airline websites to scout for deals. They also sign up for rewards programs and hunt for discounted offers and promotional codes. The advantage with this site is that it includes smaller airlines such as Southwest and Allegiant that might otherwise not feature on larger travel deals websites. As of 2014, AirfareWatchdog also introduced a new tool known as Hotelwatchdog, which brings you listings that provide great value.

WhichBudget.com – looking for an affordable, overseas flight using local budget airlines. This can prove to be an excellent way to save money on international travel. All you have to do is choose your starting point, where you want to go, and the site will list all airlines that have a service on that route.

Hotels.com – the three sites above will help you get a deal on airfare, but hotel.com brings the real deal power when it comes to accommodation. Deals this site are updated on a daily basis. There are also ample specific offers, seasonal sales, and destination-based deals. The simplicity of the site’s Welcome Rewards Program is particularly beneficial for frequent travelers.

Priceline.com – this is another important site where you get the standard online travel agent services. The site also helps travelers haggle for the best bargains on hotels. To get started, choose a minimum star class, your preferred neighborhood, and dates of stay. This done, you can name your price. The good thing here is that you get to save up to 60% off published rates. For last minute bookings, bids less than $100 per night often win on luxury lodgings. But there’s something more – Priceline won’t tell you which hotel you are booking till after you pay. So you don’t get to know where you end up. The problem is that blind booking as in this case can be particularly risky especially for unfamiliar areas. Priceline also allows you to name your price on flights and car rentals.

TripAdvisor – this is the most popular review site for hotels for hotels across the globe, featuring millions of amateur and professional reviews. You can easily search for your destination and the site outputs multiple listings for hotels, vacation rentals, bed and breakfast, as well as lodging options. There are ample filtering options that will help you specify requirements such as luxury, family accommodation, romance, business, etc. However, it’s important that you watch out for fake reviews from cronies who’re pretending to be genuine travelers but are people actually looking to promote their own hotels, or discredit competitors.

CruiseComplete.com – this is a vacation deals website that encompasses over 300 travel agencies who compete to give you the best deals based on the date, port, and ship that you specify. It doesn’t matter whether you’re booking early in advance, or at the last minute. All you need to do is set up a CruiseComplete account, and they’ll keep on sending you the best vacation deals without even looking at your personal information. The site also has lie agents available who guide you through the process via live chat.

Hotwire.com – looking for a rental car? This is where you need to be! Hotwire collects rates from its rental car company partners (including Enterprise, Alamo, and Hertz) and presents value-based deals to you. The site also features ‘hot rates’ from rental car firms that won’t even be identifiable till after you’ve paid. As opposed to accommodation, the risk with blind-booking cars is minimal. For instance, a Toyota Prado is a Toyota Prado, regardless which rental firm provides it.

InsureMyTrip.com – just in case there’s an emergency situation during your trip, InsureMyTrip.com makes sure that you’re taken care of. When it comes to buying travel insurance, agencies, and travel providers aren’t always the right option, especially due to restrictions on filing claims, and price markups. InsureMyTrip.com allows you to compare plans and charges from multiple providers with just a single search. You can then narrow down to the specifics of the kind of coverage you’re looking for!

These websites will definitely get you saving money during your next travel trip. As a rule of the thumb, do your homework well in advance. Open up these websites and see what travel deals they’ve got going on. You might be surprised just how much cash you manage to keep in your credit card account!